Thousands of Palestinians took to the steets of the West Bank and to the Gaza border area on Friday to protest US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital for the fourth week in a row.
Palestinian health officials said at least 50 rioters were wounded by live fire in Gaza, with five in serious condition, while at least 49 were wounded by live rounds, rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an.
Some 2,000 Palestinians clashed with IDF forces on nine different locations along the Gaza border fence. Rioters hurled stones at the forces and tried to sabotage the border fence. IDF forces responded mostly by firing tear gas, but also fired at four main instigators.
On the streets of Gaza, about 1,500 people attended a rally protesting Trump's Jerusalem move, with demonstrators chanting "Death to America, death to Israel, and death to Trump."
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Sign in Arabic and Hebrew in Gaza: 'As long as our heroes don't have freedom.. this hostage will never know freedom.'
(צילום: AP)
At the same time, some 2,000 Palestinians protested in 20 different locations across the West Bank, burning tires and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces, who responded with crowd dispersal measures.
The demonstrations, however, appeared less intense in scale than previous Friday rallies called over Trump's announcement.
Trump outraged Palestinians and sparked anger in Middle East countries and world powers with his Jerusalem declaration on December 6, which reversed decades of US policy on one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A UN General Assembly resolution passed on December 21 rejected Trump's Jerusalem declaration. A total of 128 countries voted for the UN resolution. Nine opposed it and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote.
Also on Friday, IDF tanks and aircraft struck Hamas military posts in Gaza in response to cross-border rockets fire .The IDF intercepted two of the three rockets fired into Israel. Police said the third struck a building causing damage. No casualties were reported in those incidents.